Microsoft on Monday took its turn driving down the purchase price of a
smartphone by unveiling the $50 Samsung Focus Flash as part of a
publicity event in New York City.
Last month, Apple dropped the price of its
2-year-old iPhone 3GS model to zero (with a contract) to better compete
against Google Droid models available since spring for $79.
Google,
Apple and now Microsoft are moving aggressively to expand the market
beyond technophiles willing to pay top dollar for the trendiest phones.
“Turns out about 70% of the folks in the U.S.
haven’t taken the leap to a smartphone yet,” says Greg Sullivan, senior
mobile communications manager at Microsoft. “Over the next few years,
hundreds of millions of new smartphone users will come on board,
especially at attractive prices like this.”
Smartphones take photos and video and can do nearly everything a laptop does. They typically sell for $199 to $500.
Researcher
IDC says the global smartphone market will rise 49.2% this year, with
more than 450 million units shipped, compared with 303.4 million in
2010.
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Source: Byron Acohido, USA TODAY
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